Aces and Salukis meet up at 7 p.m.
On Saturday evening, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team is back on the road to face Southern Illinois in a 7 p.m. game inside SIU Arena in Carbondale
– The game will be available on ESPN3 and the Purple Aces Radio Network presented by Learfield
Setting the Scene
– The game will mark the first meeting of the season between the teams; they will complete the season series at the Ford Center on February 27 in UE’s final home game of the season
– Evansville has won four of the last five road games against the Salukis; the only loss in that span came last season when UE dropped a 65-63 decision
Last Time Out
– Indiana State jumped out to an 8-1 lead on Wednesday and never trailed as they defeated the Purple Aces by an 85-62 final in Terre Haute
– Dainius Chatkevicius tied his career mark with 12 points; he also posted 12 in last season’s game at Duke
– K.J. Riley had 11 points while going 5-for-6 from the line while Marty Hill scored 10
Takeaways from Indiana State
– Despite the loss, the Aces were able to take some positives away from the game; for the third contest in a row, UE finished with a positive assist-to-turnover ratio as a team, posting 11 assists and 9 turnovers
– Evansville battled to the finish against ISU, being outscored by just one (46-45) in the second half
– Walk-ons Devan Straub and Jared Chestnut made late contributions; Straub connected on the second triple of his career while Chestnut notched his first assist
Putting it together
– Marty Hill has recorded at least nine points in 11 consecutive games including a 10-point outing at Indiana State
– He has connected on at least one 3-pointer in 13 of the last 14 contests
– Hill has been on fire from outside, hitting 26 of his last 66 attempts from long range in the last 13 games
– In the home win over Drake, Hill scored 24 points while hitting five out of seven 3-pointers in 39 minutes; it was his top effort at UE, surpassing his 16-point outing at Arkansas State
Scouting the Opponent
– Southern Illinois comes into the first meeting of the season against the Purple Aces with an even 12-12 mark
– On Wednesday, the Salukis dropped a 65-59 game at Missouri State to fall to 5-6 in MVC play, but are 3-2 in their last five games
– Armon Fletcher is one of five double figure scorers for SIU and leads the way with 14.4 points per game; he is also their top rebounder with 5.5 per contest
– Just behind Fletcher are Kavion Pippen and Aaron Cook, who average 11.9 and 11.2 PPG, respectively
